“As part of defendant’s medical treatment, hospital staff had drawn a sample of his blood and tested it, ascertaining that his BAC was .333 percent. After defendant refused to consent to a blood draw, Trooper Dunlap did not seek a warrant for a blood draw. Nor did he ask hospital staff for the results of the blood test. However, pursuant to their duty under ORS 676.260, hospital staff verbally disclosed to Dunlap that defendant’s BAC was .333 percent and Dunlap included that information in his police report.”

Trooper Dunlap did not need to get a warrant, because he knew that the hospital would take motorists blood without a warrant and give it to them.

“Oregon statue 676.260 says a health care facility “shall notify” a law enforcement officer in the course of treatment when a person’s blood alcohol level exceeds .08 percent or their blood contains a controlled substance.”

Appeals court refuses to consider hospital staff to be state actors…

“We need not, and do not, consider whether the fact that OR S676.260 required the hospital staff to disclose defendant’s BAC to law enforcement means that the disclosure constituted state action.”

It does not take a law professor to know, that when private hospitals forcibly take people’s blood without a warrant, they become state actors.

“…The State maintained that defendant had failed to prove that his blood had, in fact, been drawn at the hospital, as there was no evidence introduced at the hearing on the motion to suppress which established that fact. In addition, the State asserted that, even assuming defendant’s blood was drawn, there was no fourth amendment violation because any blood draw performed at the hospital was a private search, not a governmental one, and thus there was no State action.”

The Supreme Court agreed… “…We conclude that, even assuming blood was drawn from defendant at St. Anthony’s, it was a private search that did not implicate the fourth amendment. Accordingly, for this additional reason, the circuit court erred in granting defendant’s motion to dismiss.”

Hospitals also use private police departments to circumvent our Constitution.

Hospital police always search overdose patients

On December 1, 2017 an Ohio Appeals Court ruled that hospital police must stop questioning and searching overdose patients without probable cause.

For the past three and a half years, Ohio’s private hospital police have been questioning and searching overdose patients without probable cause.

“Officer Jordan West has been employed by the Grandview Medical Center Police Department for 3½ years, and several times per shift, he comes into contact with individuals suspected of overdosing on drugs. He indicated that it was a “general policy” for the hospital police to be called for every drug overdose patient. “

Ohio’s hospital police always question and search overdose patients…

“Officer West approached Robert Weisgarber and asked him “the standard question we ask people, if he was in possession of any drugs or weapons.”

Law enforcement’s use of private actors to circumvent our Bill of Rights is getting worse and must be stopped before it spreads across the country.

Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of the author.

Editor’s Note: Here are some other stories from the past year on this topic that might be of interest: